Category: Sales

Contribution Margin: The Profit Metric Most Businesses Misunderstand

Most businesses believe they understand profitability. They track revenue, watch gross margin, and celebrate top-line growth. Yet many still struggle with cash pressure, weak inventory performance, and growth that feels harder than it should be. The disconnect often comes down to one misunderstood metric: contribution margin.

Contribution margin is not an accounting abstraction. It is a decision metric. It tells you what actually happens after a sale occurs and before fixed costs enter...

Inventory turnover ratio is often presented as a basic operational KPI, but for modern e-commerce and retail businesses, it plays a much bigger role. It sits at the intersection of inventory management, cash flow, and growth.

At a fundamental level, inventory exists to support sales. But inventory is also one of the largest consumers of capital in most businesses. Every unit sitting in a warehouse represents cash that has already been spent and cannot be used elsewhere until that unit is sold. The inventory turnover ratio helps answer a critical...

Inventory management software has become a standard part of running an e-commerce or retail operation. It promises visibility, control, and efficiency. And at a certain stage, it delivers exactly that.

But as brands grow, something changes.

Inventory management software has become a standard part of running an e-commerce or retail operation. It promises visibility, control, and efficiency. And at a certain stage, it delivers exactly that.

But as brands grow, something changes.

As December arrives, ecommerce businesses are focusing on the holiday rush—but the most successful companies know that 2025 has already started. Smart planning and data-driven strategies can set the foundation for sustained growth in the new year. This checklist will help you take the right steps to ensure your ecommerce store thrives in 2025.

Here’s your ultimate checklist, with actionable tips to grow and thrive next year:

If modern retailers know one thing, it’s that no matter how hard you plan, things almost always work out differently than expected. And nowhere is that more true than with your supply chain.

Suppliers, vessels, trucks, warehouses. Supply chains are complex and chaotic by nature. To solve the disconnects between your forecasts and what actually happens on the road, water, or factory floor, you need to be able to act and react as quickly as possible.

The good news is, there’s never been more data available to help you do that. With AI’s ability to crunch...

The new world of retail isn’t for everyone. Less than 10% of emerging brands make it past the death valley curve of e-commerce. If you’re one of the few online retailers that has found success, you know you can’t afford to let your foot off the gas. From one or two top channels, you’re ready to expand.

According to research, for every three new sales channels you add, you could increase your revenue by up to 190%. The only catch? 

There’s a lot of talk about the role of AI in inventory. But with so many unknowns about how these tools are developed, how do you know whether your forecasting algorithm is really doing its job?

From just 4% in 2016, nearly a third of retailers are now using AI. But there’s a lot more to it than customer service bots and product recommendations. For retailers spending multiple hours per week on inventory, AI can help you make better replenishment decisions in less time.

Last week, we explored the top four use cases for AI in inventory. Today we’re taking a closer look at its current and future impact on what is arguably the most critical inventory task: forecasting.

From Amazon to Shopify and beyond, no matter which corner of commerce you operate in, you lose sales when your products go out of stock.

Every year, retailers lose an estimated $1.8 trillion due to inventory mismanagement. That’s roughly 7.8% of total global retail sales.

At Flieber, our team has onboarded over 3 million SKUs. We’ve found that the number for this subset of products is even more drastic: our calculations point to an average of 11.2% in lost sales. 

To understand the impact of these numbers on your own business, let me tell you the tale...